Democrats seek to regain House seat vacated by Santos, erode GOP majority
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Democrats tried to whittle away Republicans’ razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives in a New York special election on Tuesday to fill the vacancy created by Republican George Santos’ ouster from the chamber.
Mazi Melesa Pilip, an Ethiopian-born Republican county legislator who served in the Israeli military, and Tom Suozzi, a Democratic former congressman, county executive and mayor, are seeking the seat representing a small corner of New York City and some of its eastern suburbs.
Republicans hold a narrow, unruly 219-212 House majority that has proven hard to manage, illustrated by the chamber’s failure last week to pass a measure to impeach President Joe Biden’s top border official, Alejandro Mayorkas, which fell short by
one vote. The House plans to vote on that measure again, hoping the return of No. 2 Republican Steve Scalise from cancer treatment will get the measure over the line.
Santos was expelled by the House in a historic vote after a nearly 11-month tenure, when his fellow lawmakers
ejected him over criminal corruption charges and allegations of misspending campaign money.
Early voting in the race began on February 3. Though the district supported Biden in the 2020 election, Republicans in the New York area are considered to have a formidable turnout operation and swept a number of congressional seats there two years ago.
A large winter storm bearing down on the region could hamper voter turnout on Tuesday.
A central issue in this election has been immigration, as it has been elsewhere in the country ahead of an expected rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump in November.
Pilip has repeatedly hammered Suozzi and the Democratic Party on the issue, accusing them of failing to control crossings at the southern border with Mexico. Pilip was endorsed by a labor union for Border Patrol officers.
“I kept migrants from being sent to Nassau and will secure the border when I get to Congress,” Pilip wrote in a Facebook post, referring to Nassau County.